With NPL being a state wide competition it was off to sunny Shepparton for the day. Matched against a team that had just dropped from NPL2, and had coasted past Round 1 opponents 4-0, it could not have been a tougher test for Beauy in Round 2.
An unchanged line up from coach Gibson, got off to the worst possible start with skipper O’Regan, slipping in the box and pulling back the Suns striker so a penalty against us inside the first 2 minutes!
Keeper Jarrod Hill got down to his right to save , and keep the scores level however.
Beauy again started slowly with Suns dominating possession, and threatening once or twice and Beauy looking dangerous on the break.
After 22 minutes we took the lead with striker, Ryan Brown tapping in after a raid down the right. Suns equalised inside 5 minutes and the teams went in 1-1 at the break.
As with last week’s game vs Melbourne Victory, our team pressed on in the second half and some chances went begging, before Brown struck the post with a right footed effort. The game was end to end, but a flurry of corners for Beauy ended with Jason Dunphy’s delivery flicked on by Zach Lemke to Felix Polster to finish at the far post on 89 minutes.
An awful tackle on Liam Gillespie saw a Suns player receive a straight red close to the final whistle, but Beauy hung on to claim their first win in the NPL.
U21’s went down 3-0, but again will learn from this experience and work towards their first points next week, we hope.
Next week home on Sunday 2 April vs Boorandara. U21’s at 1pm and Seniors at 3pm. First Home game of the season so come down and wear your yellow and blue…… Canteen will be fully operational again!!